


Safety

by Resoan



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen, Very very slight Colemance, blood mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-10
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-20 03:04:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4771070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resoan/pseuds/Resoan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During a battle in the Western Approach, Falka doesn’t notice an enemy lurking behind her until it’s too late. Luckily, Cole is there to keep her from coming to harm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Safety

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written on tumblr for Themightyraccoon.

The Western Approach was a massive desert, and Falka had to wipe a few grains of sand from her face as the wind picked up; there had been considerable Venatori activity in the area, and thus the Inquisition had come to investigate: even without the Warden presence in the area.

Its days were scorching, its nights surprisingly chilly, and the wildlife never allowed Falka to feel safe for any extended period of time - not even in the Inquisition camps. Hyenas practically manifested out of thin air, quillbacks stalked the sand dunes, and some sort of raiders had taken residence in the desert as well, though Falka couldn’t even begin to guess at why.

“Are you sure there are Venatori here, Boss?” Iron Bull was handling the heat the best of all of them, though that wasn’t surprising - Falka had heard how hot Seheron and Qunandar were, even so far south.

“Scout Harding reported sightings,” Falka reminded him with a grim expression.

“Didn’t we pass some Tevinter ruins on our way here?” Dorian then inquired, Falka’s gaze turning towards him. “It’s a good bet they’re trying to find out the ancient secrets the sands have tried to bury.”

“You think whatever the Tevinters were doing here isn’t disintegrated by now?” Before Dorian could reply, however, Cole spoke.

“Gritty, grainy, pages curling, ink fading. It’s hard to make out, but it could be helpful. Impatient, irritated,  _find the rest_! They’re very angry; they want to find it all before you find them.” Cole’s deep, blue gaze rested on the Inquisitor as he finished, and Falka nodded, her smile softening despite herself. 

“Can you lead us to them, Cole?” Falka then asked, and the blond nodded simply before turning and heading east, his hat leaving a broad shadow on the sand around him.

When the Tevene murmuring was audible, Dorian reached out a hand to stop the rogue from going further; the group assessed the Venatori camp: two spellbinders, a few warriors, and at least three archers. Their force was not sizable, but the bulk was likely in the ruins. 

“Be careful,” Falka instructed them before reaching for her staff. Cole slunk away into the shadows, and Iron Bull barreled forward with a loud cry just as Dorian cast a barrier around him, the Tevinter’s head shaking with irritated fondness at the lumbering idiot. Thanks to Bull’s charge forward, the host of Venatori abruptly turned towards them and shouted in retaliation before spells and arrows began flowing - though, thankfully, most were deflected as Falka shielded herself and Dorian from them with another barrier before conjuring a flame and directing it at the Venatori mages.

Their cries filled the air as fire ate through the fabric of their robes and began to burn at skin, and several fell just as Falka managed a wall of fire to keep them all in one place, so she believed. She mostly missed Bull’s massive swings and the blurred movements of Cole’s daggers as they swept through the air in brilliant arcs, though by the time the Venatori were dead, Bull at least had begun heading back towards where she and Dorian had remained, casting their spells, and Falka surveyed the fields of corpses as her wall of fire fizzled and disappeared, purple eyes narrowed as the tip of her staff dug a little further into the sand.

“We do good work, Boss,” Iron Bull grinned when he came within earshot, splatters of blood covering his chest and the harness covering his left shoulder. She smiled in turn, relieved that no one had been hurt, though she  _was_  beginning to wonder where Cole had gotten to.

Just as she turned and her lips parted to call his name, however, a rush of air alerted her to a presence just behind her, though as she turned to see the gleam of a dagger poised and ready to strike, Cole materialized: fierce and protective, his expression as angry and outraged as Falka had ever seen it.

The Venatori assassin faltered and face-planted into the sand, blood oozing out beneath the body, and Falka could only stare at Cole as he breathed a little more laboriously, the hold on his daggers loosening slightly. “You’re all right,” Cole breathed, relief manifesting into a small smile on his lips. “Good.”

 


End file.
